


Springtime

by Aellax



Series: Runaways Mythos AU [1]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, F/F, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 01:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17193899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aellax/pseuds/Aellax
Summary: Nico is Hades, reigning goddess of the underworld. She decides to take a day off from the dreary underworld, and happens across the most radiant being that she has ever seen.A retelling of the Hades and Persephone story for Deanoru/Nicolina.[Canon features including the other kids, Amy's death, and Jonah are incorporated, but there aren't really spoilers for season 2]





	Springtime

Her job was about maintaining balance.

The trouble with maintaining employment somewhere as remote as the underworld tended to mean that “balance” and “the natural of order of things” tended to get woefully lost in translation. Typically when the surface world described Nico’s line of work, they preferred to call it “morbid” or even “evil.”

But that was fine with Nico. It kept foolish humans from intruding on her domain. Well, except for the heroes that burst in every once in a while. She could hardly stand the vast majority of them, calling it unjust to care for the souls of those that were meant to die. They rarely triumphed exactly as they thought that they would, but the king of the underworld was not averse to considering a deal. Nico thought of herself as a decent judge of character, and she could usually tell when one of those so-called heroes planned on double-crossing her. Whether they thought of Hades as evil or not, Nico thought the would-be do-gooders were as bad as they imagined her to be.

While Nico’s job was interesting- she managed to get some satisfaction out of preventing bureaucratic nightmares from exploding- the underworld could get lonely. She wasn’t very old for a goddess, but her mom had insisted on abdicating the throne. Nico had grown up expecting Amy to take over as Hades one day, but, well... All that Nico allowed herself to consider was that her mom had stepped down for a multitude of reasons.

Contrary to the human world’s popular belief, most of the godly domains were passed down family lines much like the human’s own monarchies. Occasionally, there were shake-ups in dynastic lines, but all of them had been untouched in Nico’s lifetime. Gods and goddesses were “mortal” in the sense that they lived out lifespans of hundreds of years before passing the throne to their heir. Sometimes these heirs were created similarly to how the humans did it, and sometimes there were... less orthodox methods. Nico used to tease Athena’s kid, Alex, for being descended from a headache.

But that was before things had gotten complicated and Nico had to focus on the Hades thing.

Loneliness had eventually driven her to a weeklong excursion up to the surface world. This notion was fully supported by her father and reluctantly agreed to by her mother. Not that they had any true authority over her anymore, but her parents tended to get their way more often than most of her advisors and underlings. Nico had considered visiting Poseidon; a girl even younger than herself ruled over the sea, earthquakes and horses. Even if she was the godly equivalent of a young adult, it would be nice to visit a god or goddess closer to her own age that had similar responsibilities. There weren’t very many; most of the ones that she knew that were her own age still had their parents doing the ruling. Nico expected Hephaestus’ heir, Chase, to need years before he was ready- hundreds of years, if the Apollonian heir Gert was to be believed. Only Molly could really be considered a youth anymore.

Otherwise, she supposed there was Demeter’s kid... not that she and Karolina had ever been particularly close. Karolina had always seemed skittish around her when the gods and goddess had their regular gatherings. That was before both of Molly’s parents died and her mother had insisted on retiring early. 

The benefits to visiting where Demeter held her rule were pretty nifty, though. It was on the way to Molly, for one thing. And for another, the food and landscaping were immaculate. Dealing with Leslie could be stressful, but Nico decided that the promises of diplomacy and a good meal would be worth it before she could hang out in the underwater pony kingdom.

Nico was capable of making herself all but invisible when she wanted to be, so she started off her travels as such. She made good pace with nobody around to bother her, and marveled at the world that she so rarely got to see. She preferred the underworld, generally. Among the gloom, Nico found beauty and intrigue. But how was she supposed to scoff at getting to see the trees and blue sky without being plagued by work?

She heard rustling nearby, and curiously followed the noise. While Nico expected something gawky like a deer or satyr, she instead found a young woman.

Or, well, she was not sure how old the woman was because she could only see the other’s back. Long blonde hair flowed loose, and Nico was not sure why it had a graceful wind in it when the air was so still. Nico could see the other crouching down, and thought that she could hear singing It wasn’t anything like Gert’s arrestingly perfect voice, but there was something beautiful about the way the other woman sang anyway. 

And then the young woman turned toward her, and of freaking course she was beautiful. Those wide, eyes came without a hint of malice, and Nico was almost envious. She realized that it was Demeter’s daughter Karolina that she had been staring at, and felt a pang of embarrassment for not recognizing her old acquaintance that she had been planning to visit that day on less creepy terms. Nico’s invisibility flickered, and Karolina must have seen her because the natural quiet was interrupted.

“Is anyone there?”

Nico was too ashamed of being caught staring (objectifying, Gert might chastise) to answer the very fair question. She considered her options, but decided that trying to sneak away might make it worse. She was invisible like this, not somehow secretly less noisy to another goddess.

Nico watched in trepidation as Karolina rose from her crouched position, brow furrowed, and begin to walk toward her. The ruler of the underworld did not fear death, but she feared being judged as a creep. She was decidedly anti-creep as a principle. The souls of the true creeps were not rewarded particularly well in her kingdom.

“It’s just me,” Nico revealed eventually, throwing off her helm of darkness (modified in her reign to support her fashion sense, of course). “I try to travel unseen, which worked out pretty well, I think.” Nico pressed her lips together a for a moment, not sure if the poorly-executed sarcasm was too much. She was usually so much more clever than this.

Nico saw Karolina’s eyes widen, which she hoped was not out of horror. 

“Nico! It’s been so long!” 

Instead of backing away or suspicious inquiries, Karolina hugged Nico instead. The goddess of death melted into the embrace, realizing that it was probably strange that she could not remember the last time that she had been hugged. It was probably from her dad or Molly, but Nico could not think of anything recent. But Karolina was most definitely a hugger.

“Hi Karolina,” Nico said, not willing to be the first one to let go. “I was actually here to visit your mother. And you, actually. Not for business... mostly. I’m actually supposed to be taking some time off, and I thought it would be nice to get out of the underworld.”

It was generally okay for gods and goddesses to address one another by given name, especially if they were around the same age. But Nico would never be this familiar around the older rulers. Once Karolina’s mother was involved, they would revert to titles and be Hades, Demeter, and Persephone. Persephone was a royal title granted to the female heir apparent to the throne of Demeter, Karolina.

Karolina broke up the hug, and smiled gently. “Mom is a little occupied at the moment, but if you’re willing to hang around a few hours until dinner...” She trailed off, and Nico took the opportunity to clarify any plans.

“I would love to stay for dinner, actually. It isn’t a problem at all for me to wait until you and your mom are free.” Nico expected to sit and admire Demeter’s kingdom for a few hours, which would not exactly be a difficult task. She would hate to live here, but the place was perfect to visit.

Nico bit down on her lip when Karolina put a hand on her shoulder. She had forgotten how touchy the princess was around her, and just chalked it up to springtime goddess openness. Not that she was complaining now. So maybe Nico was starting to nurse a the beginnings of a crush. What was the harm?

Karolina said more insistently than before, “I’m not busy this afternoon, and you did say that you came to visit me. So we might as well make the most of the time before mom’s done dealing with priests’ offerings.”

“What kind of offerings?” Nico asked, genuinely curious. The cult of Hades was for lack of a better word weird. For a while, there had apparently been bonking of heads on the ground. Nowadays, offerings to death gods were fewer, further between, and less fun to talk about.

“I know we’re expecting a good apple harvest around now. Hopefully it’s that. I don’t know if you’ve seen what we can do with fruit, but it’s worth sticking around.”

Nico smiled, although it was not anything like Karolina’s expressive grin. There wasn’t usually much to smile about in Hades. “You don’t have to persuade me try the food here. It’s nothing like down there.”

“What is it like in your kingdom, Nico?”

Nico worried her lip for a moment. “Difficult for most people to love. Unlike Demeter, we don’t have much to offer visitors that they can bring back with them.” Even though there was nobody else to hear, she added in hushed tones, “But I wouldn’t trade my seat for any other. I wouldn’t trust most people to make sure that the world is at balance and peace. Without death, the world would be overcrowded. There wouldn’t be an end. Nothing would return to the soil to help your springtime flourish. I take my job very seriously.”

It was difficult for Nico to get a good read on Karolina, but she thought that the other woman seemed interested. The conversation after that became less and less about work and domains, and drifted toward childhood memories long-forgotten. Recalling these memories made Nico want to gather her old acquaintances (friends?) up again outside of the confines of duty and enjoy one another.

It didn’t hurt that Karolina was no longer so on edge around her.

Eventually, the hours passed by enough for Karolina to lead Nico in for dinner. She made pleasant talk with Demeter and her current consort (Frank, whom Karolina called father despite the old family drama proving this otherwise). Some business was accomplished over dinner, but Nico got the sense that Demeter was trying to pry something out of both Nico and Karolina.

The conversation took a strange turn when Demeter asked if there were any plans for the line of succession for Hades. There wasn’t one presumptive at the moment. One of her cousins might have to do in a pinch, but Nico did not intend on giving up her throne until her last breath.

“There are able potential heirs to my throne, Demeter,” Nico said carefully, peering over her goblet at the goddess of the harvest. “You know this, of course.”

“No, no, Hades. I was curious about your plans to wed.”

Karolina made a coughing or choking sort of noise to Nico’s left.

“Should an announcement be made of my plans to wed, I shall send you advance notice if that pleases you.” Nico cleared her throat, and rose. She could feel all of the eyes in the room upon her. “Pardon my atrocious manners, but I would hate to overstay my welcome.” It had been Leslie who had been out of line, and Nico intended to express this through this statement. Hopefully it would work. And if not, she would still be able to leave. Detaining a powerful goddess against her will was generally frowned upon among the pantheon.

Nico threw upon her helm, and fled to Karolina’s protests.

The rest of her vacation was less trying on the soul. Molly was a gracious host, and Gert had even come to visit. Nico even stopped by Hephaestus’ kingdom for an hour just to greet Chase. Even if they occasionally butted heads, the time with Karolina had really kicked her nostalgia into high gear. It had not been enough to make her stop by Athena’s to see Alex. She vowed to herself that she would visit on the next vacation that she took. Unfortunately, Demeter’s annoying line of inquiry had struck a nerve. She and Alex had had a thing when they were younger, but the timing had been bad. It had been after Amy...

After Amy...

When Nico had been the spare rather than the heir, it had seemed like a nice idea in the far-off future to dream of pairing off with her crush at the time until he took the Athenian throne. Amy would have become Hades, and everything would have worked out.

Then Karolina’s birth (biological did not make all that much sense when it came to gods) father had come back into the picture. Not Frank, that prince from the Zeus line. Unlike the gods and goddesses, the titans were a little more... immortal. Hyperion had been nasty to deal with, and had taken Amy down before he could be dealt with.

Nico still considered herself on friendly terms with Alex. Nico ending up with a throne she had not spent her life preparing for was not the entire reason that the relationship ended, and even Amy had not been that one thing Gods and goddesses regnant in different domains had children all the time. They hadn’t worked for a plethora of reasons, and Nico did not want to stew in thoughts like that instead of enjoying the company of her friend. Next time. There would be a next time.

Nico returned to her kingdom, and there she only had to deal with a moderate amount of chaos and confusion. Throwing herself into her work, she barely came up for a break for days until her mother entered her office, followed by her personal many-headed hounds.

“To what do I owe this pleasure, mother?” Nico asked, annoyed and fighting the urge to fall asleep in her paperwork.

“Simply because you have the throne does not mean that you should forget how to treat the one who gave it to you,” her mother said dryly.

Nico rolled her eyes. “Fine. Is there anything that you need from me, mom?”

Nodding, Nico’s mom pushed a page across the desk. Nico picked it up, puzzled by the lack of verbal explanation. Her mother usually relished brief yet over-dramatic monologues. Concerned by the silence, she read the note through.

“Karolina’s missing?”

Tina pressed her lips together, and the dog she had brought in whined with two of its heads. “And can’t help with the harvest. She’s searched everywhere but here, apparently, but knows that those who enter don’t leave without excellent reasons.” It was just standard underworld protocol; if you just let someone leave without great care, there was a good chance that someone (or something) else could escape.

“Okay, well I don’t know why she would want to visit hell, but I guess we’ll have to put out a search party. I assume that you’ve readied the dogs, mom?” This was met with a nod from her mother. “So we should probably prepare an exit visa just in case...”

“Are you kidding?” Tina interjected. “Leslie would scream if we had her precious Persephone down here. We could use that, Nico. Think about it.”

“I am thinking about it!” Nico wanted to scream, but she was too tired. “I’m not starting a war with Demeter. She’s the real reaper if you ask me. And anyway, I actually like Karolina, and I don’t want her soured against me because of some powerplay. You’re not the king anymore, mom, so you will accept that I’ve listened to your advice and disagree with it.”

Tina clicked her tongue. “Very well. You can join the search efforts once the visa is finished. If we find the girl, I suppose I’ll have to bring her back here.” Just to be petty (or that was how Nico interpreted it), Tina grabbed one of the pomegranate seeds from the jar on Nico’s desk, and munched loudly on it as she left.

Nico set to work immediately. Hades did not issue exit visas often, and the paperwork was pretty extensive. She was most of the way through with it before deciding that shutting her eyes just for a moment couldn’t hurt...

The sound of her door helped Nico in the waking process. Without opening her eyes, she asked, “Any updates, Mom?”

“It’s me, not your mom,” a soft, almost melodic voice replied.

Opening an eye, Nico mumbled, “Karolina? What’re you doing here?”

“Visiting,” Karolina said, sitting down in the desk chair. She peered at what was on Nico’s desk before taking a small handful of snacks from atop it. “You made it sound so different and beautiful from mom’s and it is. I don’t know why I’m surprised, but... I like it a lot.”

Nico blinked slowly, not really sure that seeing was believing. “Yes, great, awesome. Did anyone not mention to you that it’s a really bad idea to visit? We don’t have great visitor gifts for a reason, Kar. I’m working on your exit visa this minute.”

“Are you sure you can’t give me the grand tour first?”

That was... not the response that Nico had been hoping for. “I guess I can fit that in. But, I mean, is everything okay? You escaped to the Underworld, which tends to be a little worrying.”

“Maybe. No. I don’t know! It’s- I’ve never felt more alive than I did when you came to visit and we just talked.” Karolina clutched at her own arms, clearly conflicted.

“I’m the goddess of the dead, in case we need a review.”

“I know! I know.” Karolina clenched her fists. “I’m not good at this, Nico. I’m sorry.”

Nico rested her chin in her hands. “Good at what?”

“Talking to women? I mean because- I just- There’s not a lot of- I really like you, Nico. I have for a while.” 

Nico wondered if this had anything to do with the skittishness. Maybe so. It seemed like a bad move to ask. “I like you too. Ugh, is this why your mom was acting so weird?”

Grimacing, Karolina shrugged. “Maybe. I’ve only told my dad- Frank dad, not the- Uhm. Anyway, either he told or she’s just nosy but I wouldn’t exactly be averse to the whole marriage thing... Eventually! I am definitely not going to move in too fast. I mean move too fast.” Karolina chucked another seed into her mouth.

Nico noticed, and she felt an intense panic. “Hey, uh, did you get those pomegranate seeds off my desk?”

“Yeah.”

“How many of those have you had, Karolina?”

“Not a lot. Maybe three. Five? Not more than six. I don’t know. I just confessed my feelings for you, and you’re mad because I ate your snacks.” Karolina looked like she wanted to cry. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Nico looked down at the exit visa paperwork. “There’s, uh, a little complication when it comes to eating underworld food.” She laughed sardonically. “You can’t leave if you do. If I do the paperwork correctly and talk to the right people, I think I can make it so you only have to stay for one month for each seed you ate. Which looks to be... three."

“I’m stuck here for three months?” Karolina considered it, and then sighed. “That’s not great, but it’s not a lot of time in the grand scheme of things considering the harvest is almost over.”

Guiltily Nico shuffled some of the papers around. “Three months every year. You can't go back until March, if I'm right. I’m sorry I didn’t stop you. If I’d realized- I’ve just wrecked your life, Karolina."

After a beat, Karolina started laughing. “No, no. This is- It’s great. I’ll be a little hungry for this year, but I’ll bring my own food stash next year. And we can spend more time together. Maybe try taking things slowly...?” It looked like Karolina was trying to go for a cheeky grin, but it was just beaming as always.

Nico scribbled something down on her notepad, and then stood up from her desk. “We can start now, if you like. I’ve got nearly three months to get that paperwork filed, and I’ve been told that I don’t take enough time for myself.”

Karolina bit down her lip to keep from grinning too widely, but it didn’t work. “And maybe we can fit that grand tour in at some point. I’m already starting to get some ideas on suggestions on what we can do to make this place better.”

Reaching for Karolina’s hand, Nico said thoughtfully, “I’d like to think that you’ll win my mom over away from her idea of some airheaded godly stud of a husband after my career’s better established with your enthusiasm alone. Maybe she’ll think you balance me out.”

Karolina grinned at that, and accepted the hand.

**Author's Note:**

> I completely forgot that the wonderful Nico di Angelo existed until I had made significant headway into this fic, so hopefully Percy Jackson fans don't get too confused.
> 
> In terms of the worldbuilding, it's super self-indulgent. Part greek mythological history, part 2nd millenia western monarchy, part Runaways, and a fair helping of whatever seemed like it was missing. 
> 
> I tried to imply it, but here's the reigning parents: Hades (Nico- Tina abdicated); Poseidon (Molly- her parents are deceased); Demeter (Leslie, with Karolina bearing the title of Persephone); Hephaestus (Chase's dad Victor); Apollo (Gert's dad Dale); Athena (Alex's mom Catherine).


End file.
